Butch Visibility and Femslash
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Butch Visibility and Femslash |
| Creator: | trancer21 |
| Date(s): | 5 March, 2009 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom: | |
| Topic: | Femslash |
| External Links: | Butch Visibility and Femslash, Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Butch Visibility and Femslash is a meta discussion by trancer21.
The Post
My original plan had been to write an essay-type thing discussing disappearing Butch visibility in femslash (which I'm beginning to think isn't the case and change to just visibility instead of implying that it's disappearing). I was going to ask in various comm's for fic recommendations in regards to Butch-type characters. Then I became stumped because:In 2009, how do we define 'Butch'?
For me it's an 'I know it when I see/read it' thing. But I also understand my definition may not be the same as everyone else's. I also believe that the political/cultural/social landscape has changed over the years and that's had an influence (positive and negative) on what the definition is/has turned into.
I'm also having a hard time processing my thoughts because I'm trying to avoid masculine/feminine 'labels' because I do think the paradigm has changed in some ways. When it comes to fan fiction and femslash, lesbians are at a disadvantage because of how under-represented we are in media. Yet, being 'poachers of text' Butch visibility shows up in our fics but, in someways, I feel like it's subtexted (and God do I wish I could explain what I mean by that). Like, I'm completed fascinated (and totally in love with) the 'Blake in drag' subgenre of Gossip Girl. I'd also say 'girl in boy body' genderswap plays into this as well. There's also the old school days of 'Butchy McFabulous', ie, Olivia Benson. But I don't want to get too caught up in the 'look' because Faith? Totally butchier than Olivia. Which goes back to media representation. Women can be strong, tough, independent but, when the target audience is men aged 18-45, can't be too unfeminine. So we take characters meant for the male gaze and transform them through our own filters to make our own.
I'm just having a hard time *defining* that filter.
So, yeah, those are my completely incoherent thoughts on the subject. Thoughts, questions, funny anecdotes.. and the possibility of fic recs? And, which characters would you describe as 'Butch'?
Comments
[leavethesky]: Yeah, butch, especially in fandom, is hard to define. It slides all over the place. Starbuck is definitely butch, but het, which begs the question, is butch strictly a lesbian/bi category? It certainly isn't in the media. As you pointed out, they're feminized, so the usual markers are erased. Lindsay on Women's Murder Club, Xena, Faith, Mary in Plain Sight are all 'butch' in behavior, but not in looks or choice of partners. Or is the new butch long hair in a ponytail?Vasquez in Aliens is my butch gold standard.
[mantaraggio]: On Buffy, each female character had a style of dressing. Buffy was the cute girly girl, Faith favored cargo pants and black leather, Willow wore weird fuzzy sweaters, and Tara liked Goddess-Goddess hippie wear. Regardless of their relative butchness, now it looks like every character on TV shops at the same store. It's a complete disregard for the idea that women have differing personalities or tastes. Like Emily/J.J. I don't get that pairing because I don't get those characters. As far as I'm concerned, they don't actually have characters, they are just cookie cutter women. So I think a lot of my obsession with "butch" on TV is just coming out of a frustration with the fact that women on TV are so bland and interchangeable these days. There was something so much more interesting about the dynamic between Cabot and Benson than there is between Emily and J.J. Or, as another example, Eames or Carmichael weren't necessarily incredibly butch, but they were both very distinctive and well-drawn characters. You can write interesting fanfic about them, femmeslash or not, just because they had a well of personality traits and idiosyncrasies to draw from.
[ralst]: Strange you should bring this up today; I was reading the Otalia (Olivia/Natalia from Guiding Light) board earlier and during the middle of their Play-by-Play of an episode someone commented on Olivia being butch in a particular scene. Now, I understood exactly what the writer meant, but others quickly stepped in to say that she couldn't in anyway be considered butch, as she'd always been a very feminine character etc. As if the two things were mutually exclusive, and I suppose if you limit the definition of butch to the stereotype, it does, but I tend to think that's just the tip of the iceberg and one we rarely, if ever, get to see on TV.